The opposition Republican People's Party, which won the local elections held in Turkey on March 31, 2024, secured 433 mayoral posts.
Medianews.az reports that as of April 10, 2026, the party controls 396 municipalities: its representatives are mayors in 12 major cities, 21 cities, 300 districts, and 63 towns. The losses are the result of arrests and removals of mayors, as well as coercion to leave the party.
Pressure on the Republican People's Party has intensified with the initiative by the party member Ekrem İmamoğlu to run for president. Ekrem İmamoğlu graduated from Istanbul University with bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration and human resources management, respectively. He was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019 and 2024. In 2025, the party decided to announce him as its presidential candidate, and a party-wide vote was scheduled for March 23.
On March 18, Istanbul University decided to revoke Ekrem İmamoğlu’s bachelor’s degree; on March 19, he was arrested amid a wave of crackdowns on various serious crimes; on March 23, he was removed from the mayoral post. This led to sharp protests and mass demonstrations. On March 23, other political forces and members of the public also participated in the nationwide party vote, and Ekrem İmamoğlu received a total of 15.5 million votes. On March 27, the party officially announced him as the presidential candidate and demanded early elections. During the confrontation wave, other party representatives, including several mayors, were detained. On July 28, Istanbul University also revoked Ekrem İmamoğlu’s master’s degree.
The party has faced other pressures as well.
At the party congress on November 4-5, 2023, the party leader changed, with Özgür Özel replacing Kamal Kılıçdaroğlu, who had been chairman since 2010. In 2025, a group of party members filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the congress results. According to their claim, many delegates were taken over by various means, and the chairmanship election involved foul play.
As soon as the claim surfaced, the party convened an extraordinary congress and on April 6 Özgür Özel was re-elected as chairman, but the court case was not withdrawn; rather, the annulment of the April 6, 2025 congress results also became a topic on the agenda.
At another extraordinary congress held on September 21, Özgür Özel received his third chairman mandate.
At the congress held from November 28-30, another chairman election took place, and Özgür Özel maintained his position.
Born in 1974, Özgür Özel has been a member of parliament since 2011.
The Republican People's Party ruled alone in 1923-1950, 1963-1965, 1977, and 1978-1979, and was part of the government coalition in 1961-1962, 1962-1963, and 1974.
In the 600-member parliament - the Grand National Assembly of Turkey - the party holds 138 seats.
According to the Turkish Constitution, only a person with higher education can be a presidential candidate.
In the country, presidential and parliamentary elections are held on the same day every five years. The last dual elections were held on May 14, 2023; the parliament was formed, and the presidential election was concluded in the second round on May 28.
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey has the authority to call for early elections with 360 votes. In such a case, the dual election system will be applied, and the current head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will be able to run for president again.
Since 2018, the president has also served as head of government. No one can be elected president more than twice.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, chairman of the Justice and Development Party, served as prime minister from 2003, and was elected president in 2014 and 2018. Since the two-term election limit is counted from 2018, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also obtained a presidential mandate in 2023.
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az